Course HIUS 445
Test Book Test: Ronald Reagan & His Quest to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
Question 1
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Ronald Reagan was—as early 1945—an ardent proponent of the abolition of atomic
weapons and the internationalization of atomic energy.
Selected Answer: True
Question 2
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Reagan’s “dream” was a world free of nuclear weapons.
Selected Answer: True
Question 3
2.52 out of 2.52 points
In the late 1940s, Reagan, a liberal Democrat, took on a leadership role with Screen Actors
Guild in Hollywood, and began to engage in “philosophical combat” with Communists in the
movie industry.
Selected Answer: True
Question 4
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Reagan was a strong supporter of the idea of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) and the
Nixon administration strategy of “détente.”
Selected Answer: False
Question 5
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Détente ran counter to Reagan’s Cold War approach. He maintained that the Soviets were
using it as a cover to lull the United States into passivity and self-restraint—leading to a
precipitous decline in the military position of the United States in the area of nuclear arms.
Selected Answer: True
Question 6
2.52 out of 2.52 points
As early as his unsuccessful 1976 presidential campaign, Reagan insisted that a U.S.-led
military buildup would strain the relatively weak Soviet economy and force the Soviet Union
to concede the arms race and agree to reduce the number of nuclear weapons.
Selected Answer: True
Question 7
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Reagan campaigned extensively on the issue of missile defense in the 1980 presidential
campaign.
Selected Answer: False
Question 8
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Reagan felt that he had been spared by God from an assassins’ bullet in order to destroy
the Soviet Union and win the Cold War.
Selected Answer: False
Question 9
2.52 out of 2.52 points
By early 1982, the Reagan administration was moving beyond “Containment” of Soviet
expansionist tendencies and toward “Rollback.”
Selected Answer: True
Question 10
2.52 out of 2.52 points
SDI did not originate with Reagan, but with his Secretary of State George Schultz.
Selected Answer: False
Question 11
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Reagan’s speech in March 1938 unveiling the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) came as a
complete shock to almost everyone outside the administration, and ignited debate and
controversy.
Selected Answer: True
Question 12
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Reagan actually liked the name “Star Wars” given to SDI by its critics.
Selected Answer: False
Question 13
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Reagan expressed no preference for what kind of defense technologies SDI might explore.
He wanted the United States to look into a wide variety of potential systems, which could
be based on land, at sea, or in the air or space, destroy incoming ballistic missiles.
Selected Answer: True
Question 14
2.52 out of 2.52 points
The Soviet Union was critical of SDI, arguing that it would result in a new, expansive arms
race in both defensive and offensive high-technology systems.
Selected Answer: True
Question 15
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Soviet leader Gorbachev was the first to suggest a summit with Reagan. He issued an
invitation to Reagan in early 1984, but Reagan, suspicious of his motives, refused to meet
initially. Only public opinion persuaded Reagan to change course, and meet with
Gorbachev.
Selected Answer: False
Question 16
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Reagan saw SDI as a bargaining chip in the summits with Gorbachev from 1985 to 1988.
Selected Answer: False
Question 17
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Reagan maintained a personal dislike of Gorbachev throughout his presidency.
Selected Answer: False
Question 18
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Reagan believed one of the successes of the Geneva Summit in 1985 was his demonstrating
to Gorbachev that he would not budge on SDI.
Selected Answer: True
Question 19
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Secretary of State George Shultz consistently worked to undermine President Reagan. He
was a strong supporter of détente, and refused to support SDI. Reagan ultimately fired
him.
Selected Answer: False
Question 20
2.52 out of 2.52 points
At the Reykjavik Summit in 1986, Reagan told Gorbachev that he would share SDI with the
Soviets and that it would be deployed after the complete elimination of nuclear weapons.
Selected Answer: True
Question 21
2.52 out of 2.52 points
When did Reagan get his first real introduction to missile defense?
Selected
Answer:
B.
When he became California governor in 1967, and visited physicist Edward
Teller at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory in Livermore, California.
Question 22
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Why did Reagan not like the concept of MAD?
Selected Answer: C.
All of the above
Question 23
2.52 out of 2.52 points
Early in his presidency, Reagan’s foreign policy team was comprised mostly of individuals
who had worked with him in California. Who was the glaring exception?
Selected Answer: E.
Secretary of State Al Haig
Question 24
2.52 out of 2.52 points
What constituted the fundamental, authoritative statements of U.S. national security policy
during the Reagan administration? Signed by the president, they were used to promulgate
presidential decisions implementing national policy and objectives in all areas involving
national security
Selected Answer: D.
National Security Decision Directives
Question 25
2.52 out of 2.52 points
What was SDI?
Selected
Answer:
C.
Reagan’s call for developing technology that could intercept and destroy
ballistic missiles before they reached American and/or allied soil.
Question 26
Needs Grading
Give a brief overview of the successes of the Geneva, Reykjavik, Washington, and Moscow
summits. Be sure and identify INF treaty discussions and START.
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
